Cardiac MR imaging reveals L-type transposition of the great vessels and failing right heart.

L-type transposition of the great vessels is a rare congenital heart disease in which both the great arteries and the ventricular chambers are reversed. Because this condition preserves a physiologic circulatory pathway, it can be challenging to diagnose in infants with no concurrent cardiac abnormalities. Early detection is essential, however, because these patients will eventually experience severe complications, as the structural right ventricle is unable to function long-term in the systemic position. We report a rare case of L-type transposition of the great vessels in a 32-year-old male who presented in adulthood with tachycardia and palpitations. The initial echocardiogram was inconclusive. Further imaging (cardiac MRI & transesophageal echocardiogram) revealed the inverted anatomy due to the presence of key morphological features, such as the malposed great vessels along with the moderator band and prominent trabeculae within the right ventricle, which was functioning systemically.

Rapidly expanding aortic root mycotic pseudoaneurysm with outflow tract fistula.

We present a 50-year-old patient with chronic Stanford type-A aortic dissection, infective endocarditis, and rapidly expanding peri-aortic myocytic pseudoaneurysm with LVOT fistula. This case highlights the role of multimodality imaging in pathoanatomically complex-case evaluation.

Leucocytoclastic vasculitis due to acute bacterial endocarditis resolves with antibiotics.

Infective endocarditis is associated with a variety of clinical signs, but its association with multisystem vasculitis is rarely reported. A high index of suspicion is necessary to differentiate a primary autoimmune vasculitis from an infectious cause as the wrong treatment can lead to significant morbidity and mortality. We present a 71-year-old female patient with negative blood cultures, on antibiotics for recent bacteraemia, who presented with cutaneous and renal leucocytoclastic vasculitis. Workup revealed a vegetation adjacent to her right atrial pacemaker lead consistent with infective endocarditis and her vasculitis completely resolved with appropriate antibiotics.

How Have Craniofacial Injuries Changed in Adult Bicyclists Over the Past 10 Years?

PURPOSE: As bicycling popularity grows in the United States, it becomes increasingly important to understand and characterize bicycle-related injuries. In this study, we sought to characterize craniofacial injuries in adult cyclists and to evaluate trends in injuries over the past 10 years. MATERIALS AND METHODS: In this retrospective cohort study, the National Electronic Injury Surveillance System was queried for bicycle-related craniofacial injuries in adults aged 18 to 64 years from January 1, 2008, to December 31, 2017. Variables examined included demographic characteristics, diagnosis, patient disposition, and change in number of injuries and age-adjusted incidence of injuries from 2008 to 2017. Linear regression analysis was performed to evaluate trends in injuries over time, with statistical significance set at P < .05. RESULTS: There were an estimated 573,305 visits to emergency departments across the United States for bicycle-related craniofacial injuries from 2008 to 2017. Male patients (75%), patients aged 18 to 24 years (25%), and white patients (54%) were injured most commonly. The population-adjusted incidence of total injuries increased by 22% from 2008 to 2017 (P = .13). The rates of traumatic brain injury and craniofacial fractures rose by 50% (P = .06) and 63% (P  < .01), respectively. Cyclists aged 55 to 64 years had the highest increase in the age-adjusted incidence of injury from 2008 to 2017, by 54% (P < .01). CONCLUSIONS: Bicycle-related trauma remains a public health concern, with a steady number of craniofacial injuries presenting to emergency departments across the United States during the past 10 years. Injuries have increased for adults aged 55 to 64 years, and there has been a rise in more severe injuries including traumatic brain injury and craniofacial fractures.

Molecular cloning, heterologous expression, and functional characterization of a cellulolytic enzyme (Cel PRII) from buffalo rumen metagenome.

A cellulase encoding gene, Cel PRII, was identified from Mehsani buffalo rumen metagenome, and cloned and expressed in Escherichia coli BL21(DE3)pLysS. The 1170 bp full length gene encodes a 389 residue polypeptide (Cel PRII) containing a catalytic domain belonging to glycosyl hydrolase (GH) 5 family. The fusion protein consisting of the Cel PRII, thioredoxin tag and 6x Histidine tag with predicted molecular weight of 63 kDa when recovered from inclusion bodies under denaturing conditions, exhibited cellulolytic activity against carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC). Recombinant Cel PRII was stable in the pH range 4.0-10.0 with pH optima 6.0. The optimal reaction temperature of Cel PRII was 30 °C with more than 50% of its activity retained at the temperatures ranging from 0 to 50 °C. Cel PRII exhibited enhanced enzymatic activity in the presence of Mn2+ ions and was inhibited in the presence of chelating agent EDTA. The K m and V max values for CMC were found to be 166 mg/mL and 1292 IU/mg, respectively. Cel PRII identified in the present study may act as an excellent candidate for industrial applications, and may aid in lignocellulosic biomass conversion because of its potential cellulolytic activity, thermostability, and excellent pH stability.

Isolation and characterization of novel multifunctional recombinant family 26 glycoside hydrolase from Mehsani buffalo rumen metagenome.

Rumen microbiota harbor a diverse set of carbohydrate-active enzymes (CAZymes), which play a crucial role in the degradation of a complex plant polysaccharide thereby providing metabolic energy to the host animals. Earlier, we reported CAZYme analysis from the buffalo rumen metagenome by high throughput shotgun sequencing. Among the various CAZymes, glycoside hydrolase family 26 (GH26) enzymes have a number of industrial applications including in paper, oil, biofuel, food, feed, pharmaceutical, coffee, and detergent industries. Here, we report isolation and characterization of GH26 enzyme from the buffalo rumen metagenome. A novel GH26 gene composed of 1,119 base pairs was successfully amplified using the gene-specific primers inferred based on the contig generated from metagenome sequence assembly and cloned in a pET32a (+) expression vector as an N-terminal histidine tag fusion protein. A novel GH26 protein from an unknown rumen microorganism shared a maximum of 68% identity with the Prevotella ruminicola 23 encoded carbohydrate esterase family 7 and 46% with Bacteroides sp. 2_1_33B encoded mannan endo-1, 4-ß-mannosidase. The recombinant GH26-histidine tag fusion protein was expressed in Escherichia coli and purified using Ni-NTA affinity chromatography. The purified enzyme displayed multifunctional activities against various carbohydrate substrates including locust bean gum, beechwood xylan, pectin, and carboxymethyl cellulose suggesting mannanase, xylanase, pectin esterase, and endoglucanase activities, respectively.

Goat activin receptor type IIB knockdown by artificial microRNAs in vitro.

Activin receptor type IIB (ACVR2B) has been known to negatively regulate the muscle growth through mediating the action of transforming growth factor beta superfamily ligands. Recently, the artificial microRNAs (amiRNAs) which are processed by endogenous miRNA processing machinery have been proposed as promising approach for efficient gene knockdown. We evaluated amiRNAs targeting goat ACVR2B in HEK293T and goat myoblasts cells. The amiRNAs were designed based on the miR-155 backbone and cloned in 5'- and 3'-UTR of GFP reporter gene under the CMV promoter. Although both 5'- and 3'-UTR-amiRNAs vectors showed efficient synthesis of GFP transcripts, amiRNAs in 5'-UTR drastically affected GFP protein synthesis in transfected goat myoblast cells. Among the four amiRNAs targeting ACVR2B derived from either 5'- or 3'-UTR, ami318 showed highest silencing efficiency against exogenously co-expressed ACVR2B in both 293T and goat myoblast cells whereas ami204 showed highest silencing efficiency against endogenous ACVR2B in goat myoblasts cells. The 3'-UTR-derived amiRNA exerted higher knockdown efficiency against endogenous ACVR2B at transcript level whereas 5'-UTR-derived amiRNAs exerted higher knockdown efficiency at protein level. The expression of ACVR2B showed positive correlation with the expression of MYOD (r = 0.744; p = 0.009) and MYOG (r = 0.959; p = 0.000) in the amiRNA-transfected myoblasts. Although both 5'- and 3'-UTR-amiRNA vectors led to substantial induction of interferon response, the magnitude of the response was found to be higher with the 3'-UTR-amiRNA vectors.